


Leaning in

by Rivestra



Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: Comfort, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 12:28:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5456555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivestra/pseuds/Rivestra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, taking a nap is as dangerous as practicing diplomacy while sleep deprived.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaning in

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SlashnEggs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlashnEggs/gifts).



> Happy Yule, SlashnEggs! It’s not _exactly_ what you asked for, but I really hope it makes your Yuletide brighter anyway. Many, many thanks to the beta of my soul (no, really, she gets to look at it all pre-release) for putting up with me on this.
> 
> **Disclaimer:** Written purely for fun; no profit or harm intended. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners.

The couch called to her. The piles of paperwork on her desk said stay, but the couch’s call was deeply seductive. At least she’d gotten through the worst of it. She could shuffle the remaining details onto Blake when he got in at five. His fresh eyes and calm efficiency would make short work of them, and he’d get them on their 7 am flight.

Nadine arched her back and rolled her neck. At the apex of the roll, she saw the clock on the wall tick over to 3:30.

Elizabeth’s voice drifted down the hall faintly, the only sound in the empty office. Her tone was too even, Nadine decided. She couldn’t make out the words from her desk, but the Secretary was clearly frustrated--as well she should be. Elizabeth had been on this call since just after midnight and clearly had yet to agree on the best way to honor both the incumbent and presumptive presidents during the ceremony.

Nadine padded down the hallway in her bare feet, stockings discarded hours ago. When she reached Elizabeth’s door, she stopped and leaned against the frame. It took the Secretary almost a full minute to notice her; all of Elizabeth’s considerable focus was on searching through the thick binder in front of her. Once Elizabeth had found the relevant information (“No, sir, last week, we agreed on sixteen elephants...”), she looked up at Nadine, tired eyes softening as her smile reached them, her body visibly relaxing into her chair.

Nadine grimaced at her, but it didn’t hide her answering smile. She mimed slamming the phone down, and Elizabeth didn’t quite manage to choke back a laugh. Nadine winced while the Secretary turned it into a cough and then spent long minutes apologizing into the phone and reassuring the Minister that no, she was not getting sick, her throat was just very dry. It was quite late in Washington, after all.

Nadine was selfishly glad they’d insisted on working with the Secretary directly, but the dark circles under Elizabeth’s eyes and the guarded, over-thought-out way she moved made Nadine ache for her. Nadine herself was running on the barest whiff of fumes. She’d been pacing the Secretary all through this marathon until this call had pushed Elizabeth hopelessly behind.

As if reading Nadine’s mind, Elizabeth pointed sharply at Nadine and then determinedly at the door to her left that led to the small, well-appointed reception room kept for visiting dignitaries and the only comfortable napping couch in the entire office.

Nadine stared at the door and hesitated. Well aware that denying herself sleep would only make the Secretary’s day harder tomorrow, Nadine still turned back and gestured determinedly at Elizabeth’s desk with a swooping, swirling motion meant to encompass all the work piled there.

Their nascent telepathy was in good form tonight, but Elizabeth was having none of it. She glared at Nadine and pointed again at the door and the couch beyond.

Slowly, Nadine nodded. Heaving herself off the doorframe like she weighed a thousand pounds, she crossed the room in slow motion, feet literally dragging on the lush carpet below. She hesitated again when she opened the door, the couch and its promises of comfort just visible in the dim room beyond.

The couch had been Vincent’s.

Drafted out of the Secretary’s office and into the reception area in a fit of budget-consciousness when Elizabeth took over, it had kept Nadine out of the small anteroom ever since, repelling her a small measure more than it beckoned. Tonight, though... Tonight, she needed to sleep, and the couch offered the only possibility of real sleep in the entire office.

Nadine shut the door quietly behind her but couldn’t stop herself from sagging against it once it had latched. _This is comfortable, too,_ she thought, and let her eyes drift shut.

Some undeterminable number of minutes later, Nadine’s eyes flew open again. It took her a few heart-pounding moments of silence to realize that Elizabeth was not truly trying to shove the door open against the dead weight of her Chief of Staff. Gravity was, however, slipping and stuttering her ever closer to the floor.

_Enough foolishness,_ Nadine thought sternly at herself. She straightened her back, shifted her weight off the door, and moved toward the couch before she found another excuse to avoid doing so.

With a soft sigh, she tucked herself into a corner and allowed the cushions of the behemoth to swallow her. As she settled, the smooth leather released the barest spicy hint of Vincent’s cologne. Nadine curled in on herself and gave in to the fantasy that she could still feel a trace of his warmth in its leathery embrace.

She didn’t notice she’d begun to cry, not until the first sob hit. Horrified Elizabeth would hear through the wall, Nadine choked them back. She turned into the corner of the couch and let the leather soak up her traitorous tears.

Of course, it was too little too late, and the door creaked open a moment later. Elizabeth’s soft, “Nadine?” practically echoed in the quiet room.

Nadine felt herself stiffen, but before she could turn around and face her boss, Elizabeth let out a soft sigh of exasperation. “I am so stupid when I don't sleep,” she said, more to herself than to Nadine.

Turning herself around as Elizabeth closed the distance between them, Nadine fought the urge to rub at her eyes. Elizabeth’s concern was clear on her face even in the dim room, and Nadine braced herself for the coming surge of unfocused sympathy.

Elizabeth surprised Nadine, though, as she so often did with her insight. Instead of asking gently probing questions, Elizabeth sat on the coffee table in front of Nadine and said, “I am so sorry, Nadine. I completely forgot where this damn couch came from.”

One moment of honest empathy was apparently all it took to dissolve Nadine’s fragile control. To her horror, she felt the floodgates open, and she started to tremble. She wanted to get up--to excuse herself and hide her outburst--but feared her legs were no longer up to the task.

Through a watery veil, she watched Elizabeth slip off the table and onto her knees. She felt herself gathered into strong, slender arms and fitted snugly against soft, silk-covered breasts. When the next sob tried to escape, she let it slide out, granting tacit permission to the flood that followed.

Eventually, Elizabeth shifted up onto the couch and gathered Nadine in close against her chest and side. Too wrung out to remember why she should resist, Nadine tucked her feet up under her and her head down into Elizabeth’s warmth. Exhaustion flooded her, and she melted into the embrace, leaning in mindlessly and letting her tears soak sanded silk. It took almost no time for Nadine to fall asleep there with Elizabeth soothing small circles across her back, wrapped in the inexplicable, effortless comfort the other woman was offering.

~~~~~~

Nadine woke slowly in the dim light, back stretched out against the line of the couch, front snug against the line of Elizabeth’s body and face buried in the soft warmth of the other woman’s chest. A hint of Bvlgari Jasmin Noir teased her tear-stuffed nose. Elizabeth must have worn it to yesterday’s 3C luncheon--though when she’d found time to daub it against her pulse and there, between her breasts, Nadine couldn’t imagine. Nadine breathed in against the silk, taking the air in through her mouth. It tasted musky and floral, a breath of green jasmine tea across sleep-sweated skin.

Elizabeth’s hand was in her hair, stroking absently, and Nadine let herself be selfish, let herself drift on the sensation until her brain would allow it no more. When Nadine finally found the courage to lift her head out of the cradle she’d made of Elizabeth’s breasts, Elizabeth stroked the curls off her face.

“Hey,” Elizabeth said and smiled sleepily. Nadine couldn’t help but smile back.

“C’m’ere,” Elizabeth said and tugged, her hand buried deep in Nadine’s thick hair. It didn’t occur to Nadine not to move up with the prompting. The charmeuse of her blouse slid smoothly against Elizabeth’s sanded silk, sheathing their heat but doing nothing to block it. As their heads came level, their breasts slotted together perfectly. Elizabeth arched against Nadine’s chest, and the leather behind her was warm and welcome now. Grounding.

Emboldening, even.

Nadine closed the bare inch of distance between their lips, her eyes open and wide. She felt Elizabeth’s smile grow wider against her own lips right before Elizabeth’s parted to let her in, and in she went.

Elizabeth tasted like sunshine, like sunshine and honey, and Nadine was suddenly ravenous, chasing the flavor that danced across Elizabeth’s tongue, its warmth blossoming across her own skin.

When Nadine broke for a gasp of air, Elizabeth flipped her smoothly onto her back. She nipped gently at Nadine’s nose, eyes dancing, then dipped lower. Nadine couldn’t contain her moan, as Elizabeth sucked a bruise beneath her ear. She arched up into the other woman, her hands sliding down and spreading across Elizabeth’s ass to press their heat together. Elizabeth ground down into Nadine, and this time, they both moaned into each other’s skin.

Nadine slid her hand under Elizabeth’s blouse, and Elizabeth reared up and stripped it off in a single fluid motion, eyes locked on Nadine’s. Without breaking their gaze, Nadine slid her hands up Elizabeth’s arms and pulled down the straps of her bra. When Elizabeth shrugged out of the straps, Nadine’s eyes slipped heedlessly down to her chest. She didn’t question her sudden need to _taste_ at all. Not with all the delicious skin suddenly on display. She surged up and closed her mouth around the nearest nipple, opening wider to suck in as much as she could. She reveled in how Elizabeth clutched at her head, fingers tight against her scalp, the press of sweet flesh making her gasp a bit for every breath. Elizabeth’s other nipple looked lonely, so Nadine mouthed her way over to it with dragging, hungry kisses.

In that slightly less distracted moment, Elizabeth slid her hands down the back of Nadine’s slacks. They teased their way under Nadine’s panties and came to rest smoothly on her ass. They surprised a gasp out of Nadine when they squeezed firmly and lifted her off the couch and Nadine suddenly found that she could not get out of them fast enough.

Attempts at her zipper without moving her mouth from Elizabeth's breast drew a throaty chuckle from the other woman. Nadine bit her lightly in retaliation, and Elizabeth surprised her again with her strength, effortlessly shifting Nadine back and down again, and somehow managing to unfasten her pants and draw them down at the same time, underwear and all.

Elizabeth paused above her, then, breathless. Nadine reveled in the opportunity to take her in fully, eyes shining brightly and hair golden in the low light. Her breasts were bobbing gently as she got her breath back, jutting out proudly above the strap of her bra. Nadine wanted to taste them again, and her face must have shown it, because Elizabeth’s smile turned wicked.

Actually waggling a finger, she said, “Oh, no, no, no...” and leaned down long, hovering over Nadine to lick the tip of her nose. “It’s _my_ turn now,” she said lasciviously, just before lowering her chest down and sliding it down Nadine’s silk-covered own.

Elizabeth followed the drag of her flesh with that of her nails; Nadine closed her eyes and nearly arched out of her over-sensitive skin. She bit back a shout with the last of her will power, only to give in completely to loud moaning a moment later when Elizabeth’s tongue thrust deep into her core. Flinging her head back against the leather, Nadine held on to the cushion for dear life, feeling Elizabeth’s self-satisfied chuckle resonate up each knob of her spine. Surely nothing before had ever felt this so very good, she thought as she let the sensations roar through her, overwhelming everything else and whiting out her brain.

~~~~~

Something roused Nadine, jarring her enough to start her on an inexorable glide to consciousness but not enough to make any real sense of Elizabeth’s quiet, “Thank you, Blake. Give us a moment, and we’ll be out.” She heard the gentle snick of a door shutting, and thought, perhaps, that she should be alarmed, but Elizabeth’s heart beat steady beneath Nadine’s ear, and Elizabeth’s hand was gentle on her hair, and that was reason enough to stay calm.

“You with me, Nadine?” Elizabeth asked softly, not moving at all except for the down and back of her hand stroking Nadine’s hair. “I think we were out about 2 hours--Blake let us sleep more than I asked, but he’s also got our clothes and the cars ready and has promised coffee, so I think I’ll let him live.” 

Nadine heard Elizabeth’s words and was grateful for them, part of her brain jumping ahead into preparations for their day, but the rest of her brain--most of it, really--was whirring instead on the wet silk under her cheek and the way she was curled around Elizabeth, seated so close that she was practically in the other woman’s lap. On the way they were both fully clothed.

Involuntarily, Nadine stiffened against Elizabeth’s side.

Noticing (as she did most things), Elizabeth said, “Hey,” and bent to look at Nadine’s face. “Why don’t you go in the second car today? Maybe catch a little more sleep while Matt and I work on the speech?” she asked gently.

Carefully shifting her weight off her boss and onto the couch, Nadine, said, spine straight, “Two hours? “I haven’t slept that long in a stretch for months.” She forced a chuckle out around the lump in her throat. “I’m clearly just sleep-addled.”

She stood, straightening her blouse, and added, “It’s nothing Blake’s coffee won’t fix.”

“Nadine...” Elizabeth started, but she trailed off when Nadine finally turned to face her.

All business, Nadine said, “I’m fine, Madam Secretary,” then let her eyes soften. “I promise you.”

“We all have... _things,_ you know,” Elizabeth said, eyes kind enough to make Nadine close her own. “Things that are too well-behaved to confront us in the light of day but late at night, especially after too many late nights...”

“Thank you,” Nadine said, forcing her eyes back open. “It won’t happen again, though.”

Elizabeth nodded and headed for the door. With her hand on the knob, she paused and turned back to look at Nadine. “Maybe not to you,” she said, “but I’m not going to make any promises about me.”

She opened the door. As she stepped into her office, Elizabeth added, “Next time, there should probably be tequila.”

“Blake,” Elizabeth called through the other door. “Can you get me a bottle? Maybe hide it under the Merriweather petitions?”

Nadine’s chuckle was a more than polite, but she silently promised herself that, no, she would not be getting drunk alone with the Secretary any time soon...

**Author's Note:**

> I had kind of a hard time with my assignment this year. Usually my brain balks at first, then settles down into something useful. In this case, though, it turns out that the solid-yet-complex Elizabeth/Henry relationship is not only the main draw of the show for me, it’s inviolable. Also, I have to admit I’d never really considered writing Nadine (since she wasn’t a nominated character), and that proved a considerable challenge, too. While I was intrigued by many of the elements of SlashnEggs’ request, in the end, I just couldn’t make myself go anywhere except where I did.
> 
> SlashnEggs requested “Elizabeth/Nadine, Secret affair, Nadine is pining for Elizabeth, Ultimate slow burn!, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Unrequited Love, Elizabeth questions her sexuality after having sex with Nadine and Nadine crushes on her hard but knows it will be beyond tough for Elizabeth.”


End file.
